Tuesday, 23 December 2008

43 years after its Turin Show debut the one-and-only 1965 Turin Salon Lamborghini Miura chassis, designed by chassis genius Gian Paolo Dallara, and the raging bull company's first-ever transverse mid-mounted V12 engine (0293) has been acquired by Los Angeles based collectors.

The iconic show chassis had been stored for the past 30 years in Cyprus by that country's original Lamborghini concessionaire, Marios Kritikos. While visiting the Lamborghini factory in 1977, Mr. Kritikos took a fancy to the historic show unit. After successfully negotiating a future home for it, he arrived at the factory with his Range Rover and trailer, loaded it and drove away. That was in April of 1978. The original invoice for the chassis survives, together with unpublished period photographs of the chassis being built in 1965, on display at the December, 1965 Turin Salon, and at the Lamborghini factory in July, 1966. Mr. Kritikos documented his collection of the car on April 7th, 1978.

The 1965 Turin Salon Miura represents the very first mid-engined supercar theme for all marques, and is rightly considered to be the Holy Grail from which all road going supercars descend. Its re-emergence represents the most important Lamborghini discovery to date.

Thirty years later, in December of 2008 representing both parties and facilitating the transaction were Miura specialists Joe Sackey (Joe Sackey Classics: www.joesackey.com) and Gary Bobileff (Bobileff Motorcar Company: www.bobileff.com). Only one month after its discovery it has been imported to the US and now resides in the restoration facility of world-renowned Gary Bobileff, where it will undergo a complete refurbishment to bring it to its former show glory.

The last time the general public saw this automotive icon was 43 years ago on display at the Turin Salon.

It will make its USA debut in the summer of 2009. Details to be announced.

New!Lamborghini Miura Bible by Joe Sackey.The ONLY book on the Lamborghini Miura to be published in the past twenty six years – and enthusiasts agree it is long overdue. Written by a world-renowned authority on the subject, featuring, among other things, a never-before-published factory chassis production register, technical illustrations, studio-supplied images and exclusive interviews with the designers of the car: this is essential reading for any Lamborghini fan.Click here for more info about the brand new book.

Friday, 19 December 2008

This book provides an easy to follow guide on how to draw cars like the professional design studios. Covers materials used from pencils to markers, airbrushes to computer generated drawings. The book features clear and concise step-by-step guides to drawing all external components of a car, and teaches how to render them in order to bring them to life. It also showcases work that demonstrates how these techniques produce great car art and design. Click here for more info about the forthcoming book.

Thursday, 18 December 2008

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the maker of Subaru automobiles, has announced the withdrawal from the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) at the end of the 2008 season.

FHI has participated in the WRC together with Prodrive, a motorsports and automotive engineering group in the UK, over the past 19 years to pursue its goal and philosophy in motor sports activities to enhance Subaru brand awareness by showing that Subaru vehicles offer safe, comfortable and pleasurable driving no matter the weather or road conditions, featuring Horizontally-Opposed engine and the Symmetrical All-Wheel drive system as its core technologies, and to transfer results of race-tested technical improvements into Subaru passenger vehicles.

Subaru has won three manufacturer’s championship titles and three driver’s championship titles in its history of rally racing. This has helped enhance the value of the Subaru brand as well as the sales expansion of Subaru vehicles all over the world.

FHI considers it has achieved its original target in WRC participation. However, while considering positioning the WRC activity in Subaru branding strategy towards the future, our business environment has been dramatically changed due to the quick deterioration of the global economy. In order to optimize the management resources and to strengthen further the Subaru brand, FHI decided to withdraw from WRC activities at the earliest timing.

As regards future involvement in rally activities, FHI will continue to support teams and drivers that participate in P-WRC or the Group N category.source: newspress

Friday, 12 December 2008

New widget download is available to coincide with the launch of the all new Veloce Publishing forum. This widget will enable an at-a-glance way of keeping up with what is being discussed on the forum as each new post will automatically be displayed on the widget.(Requires Mac OSX 10.4 or later)

Thursday, 11 December 2008

The Earl of March has confirmed the theme of the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed as ‘True Grit – Epic Feats of Endurance.’ The theme celebrates the drive and determination of motor racing’s heroes, who overcame huge physical, mental and mechanical barriers in their quest for glory. From Jackie Stewart’s enduring victory at the 1968 German Grand Prix, despite his broken wrist, to Mick Doohan’s courageous return to motorcycle racing in 1992, without full use of his right leg, there are countless amazing tales of performances far beyond what was thought possible for any human being. When most would have accepted defeat, these few continued to pursue their goals against all odds. The 2009 Festival of Speed will celebrate their unrelenting true grit and the legends born from it. The 2009 Festival will run from 3-5 July and will celebrate the true motor sport heroes that went the extra mile in the pursuit of victory. Motor racing legends and modern day stars are expected to line up alongside their friends and adversaries at the celebrated 1.16 mile hillclimb, in a tribute to great feats of endurance in competition. Visit the Goodwood website for more info

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

New!Gentleman Jack – The Official Biography of Jack Sears by Graham Gauld.
Gentleman, entrepreneur, and excellent racing driver, this is the fascinating story of John (Jack) Sears or Gentleman Jack as he was popularly known. As sir John states in the foreword “Jack was the gentleman that I should have been. He had the grace, while I only had the title. I often told him that he should have had it rather than I, but he wasn’t buying. Although he started racing several years before I did, our careers took a parallel path for much of the way, and this gave me the privilege of getting to know him really well. That he was an outstanding driver is obvious, and you will have had this reaffirmed by the time you have read this book” This incredibly detailed biography not only tells of Jack’s amazing motoring career from his perspective but of the whole Sears dynasty. The businesses, the friends, the highs and the lows. Packed with facts straight from the man himself and illustrated with over 150 unique photos this is a must have piece of motoring history.
click here for more info about the book

As production of the European specification Nissan GT-R begins in its Tochigi plant in Japan this month, a raft of small but significant changes have been made to the car.

The GT-R’s hand-built 3.8-litre V6 twin-turbo engine has gained 5PS thanks to some fine tuning of its electronics, taking power output to 485PS, while torque remains unchanged at 588Nm. Additionally, Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST tyres will be fitted as standard. The tyre was developed specifically for the GT-R and it combines grip and durability, as demonstrated during its ‘time-attack’ lap of the Nurburgring, which yielded a time of 7 minutes 29 seconds. And, just to improve the ride performance even further a modification has been carried out to the suspension spring rate settings.

Another update sees the introduction of the Gun Metal grey coloured Rays seven-spoke alloy wheel design for the standard and Premium Edition GT-Rs, while the Black Edition will be fitted with the same design but, appropriately, in black. Additionally, customers can now choose a new pearl white called ‘Storm’ as an exterior colour – an eye-catching, deep white replacing the original pearl white which had a slightly darker shade.

To date, Nissan has taken in excess of 2500 customer orders in Europe with 1200 coming from the UK. Any new customer orders should expect delivery in mid 2010.Veloce has two exciting Nissan GT-R books lined up for release in 2009...

The Nissan GT-R High-performance Manual By Alex Gorodji. There is not a car in the world that is equal to the Nissan GT-R in its popularity and unique handling characteristics. However, the Nissan GT-R was and still is a half-ready product. Therefore modification of this car is crucial for realisation of its enormous potential.This book explains the distinctive features of the GT-R and how they determine the car’s dynamics. It contains an original and critical analysis of the GT-R models, and reveals positive and negative features of different systems of these cars. Modifications of all systems of the GT-R by the top British and Japanese tuners are covered in the book.click here for more info about the book.

Nissan GT-R Supercar: Born to race By Dennis Gorodji. This book contains rare pictures, schemas and graphs detailing the many unique qualities of the Nissan GT-R, a car that revolutionised modern sports car dynamics. Analysis of the motorsport history of the GT-R provides an original view of development of the models, and comparison of them with other sports and racing cars. It features an original and critical analysis of the new GT-R R35, and the R35 Spec V, which will be launched in the beginning of 2009, is also represented in the book. With over 400 colour photographs, this is essential reading for sports car fans.click here for more info about this book.

Monday, 8 December 2008

Off Road Giants! - Heroes of 1960s Motorcycle Sport by Andy Westlake.
- An affectionate and warm insight to a truly great era of motorcycle sport
- Profiles of 17 famous riders of the 1960s
- Contains photographs by Gordon Francis, one of the UK’s leading sports photographers: most have never been published before
- Will appeal to both male and female readers
- 126 evocative, period photos
Click here for more info about the book.

Thursday, 4 December 2008

The RAC club managed to borrow Jack's famous Ford Galaxie and display it in the clubs rotunda on the day of his talk (25/11/08). They had to remove the revolving doors to the clubhouse to do it and the car barely had half an inch each side to spare as it came through. Click here for more pictures.

*Video of the talk coming very soon on Youtube.

Veloce Publishing is proud to bring you Gentleman Jack – The Official Biography of Jack Sears By Graham Gauld.
Jack Sears was one of the principal organisers of the 1968 London to Sydney Marathon. This is THE official biography of a fascinating entrepreneur, sportsman and gentleman. Packed with facts straight from the man himself and illustrated with over 150 unique photos this is a must have piece of motoring history.

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

Six of the UK's hottest young creatives have been chosen by Vauxhall to receive a commission of up to £20,000 each.
As part of its ongoing commitment to style and design, car company Vauxhall in conjunction with a Style Council made up of arts industry experts, has identified six of the brightest creative stars and given them a commission of up to £20,000 each, accompanied by a high profile PR campaign, to help them take their careers to the next level.
The six commissions will tie into the theme of The Great British Road Trip, a re-telling of the classic road trip story, with a very British twist. With the commissions totalling in the region of £120,000 this significant arts support programme in the UK, reflects Vauxhall's ongoing commitment to supporting style and design.
Click here for more info.

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

Off Road Giants! - Heroes of 1960s Motorcycle Sport- An affectionate and warm insight to a truly great era of motorcycle sport
- Profiles of 17 famous riders of the 1960s
- Contains photographs by Gordon Francis, one of the UK’s leading sports photographers: most have never been published before
- Will appeal to both male and female readers
- 126 evocative, period photos
Click here for more info about the book.

Monday, 1 December 2008

In the new Porsche Museum, the final preparations are being made for the opening on Saturday, 31 January 2009. Now that the scaffolding has been removed, it is possible to see to the full extent the bold architecture of the building, opposite the head office premises of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG in Zuffenhausen; the famous suburb of Stuttgart, in Germany, that has since 1950 been the home of Porsche. The 5,600 square metres of exhibition space are supported on just three so-called cores of reinforced concrete – hence the building appears to hover in free-space. Inside, the majority of approximately 80 exhibits are already in place.

During construction of the new Porsche Museum, the vehicles have been stored in an off-premises warehouse in Zwingenberg am Neckar until required. The first exhibits that will go on display in the museum include, among others, a 356 Cabriolet, an original ‘11’ model and the first prototype of the 924.